1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to refrigerators and, in particulars, to liquid dispensers situated within a refrigerator door.
2. Description of Related Art
Generally, refrigerators can be classified into three styles: freezer door on top, freezer door on bottom, and side-by-side door arrangement. The most popular model is the freezer door on top model. While the side-by-side arrangement is also desirable, it usually demands a higher price tag.
It is also known to provide ice and water dispensers within the refrigerator door. This allows dispensing of ice and water without the need for opening the refrigerator door, thus conserving energy. However, the system of water and ice delivery consumes large space and requires physical connection to the freezer compartment. Therefore, such systems can practically only be implemented within the freezer door. Since on the freezer on top model such a system would prove inconvenient since the door is too high, making it hard to reach, and since installing such a system in a freezer on bottom refrigerator would require the user to inconveniently bend down for dispensing, such systems are currently available only on the side-by-side models.
In addition to water, there are other consumables which require frequent opening of the refrigerator door, thus causing increase in energy consumption. Accordingly, recently a solution has been introduced, although it had not gained much popularity, according to which energy is conserved by implementing a door-in-door system. The idea is to make a small hatch in the refrigerator compartment door to provide access to frequently consumed items, such as milk, juice, butter etc. these systems are also currently available only on the side-by-side models.